Prabhjot Singh

Tribune News Service

Satinder Sharma, a Deputy Manager in State Bank of India here, has become the first Indian hockey umpire to get Golden Whistle Award from the International Hockey Federation. Golden whistle is given to only those umpires who have officiated in 100 or more international matches.

“It is the ultimate for an international hockey umpire to aspire for. I started my umpiring career in Sydney in 2000 when the FIH called me for duty in a four-nation tournament. Since then I have been to two Olympic games, two World Cups, five Champions Trophy tournaments, one Asian Games and two Junior World Cups. The games of Junior World Cup are, however, not counted towards the award of the golden whistle,” says Satinder Sharma, who in his college and university days represented Chandigarh Rock Rovers as a player.

He got his golden whistle last week at Invercargill in New Zealand where he had gone to supervise matches in a World Cup Qualifying tournament. Pam Elgar, President, Oceania Hockey Federation, presented him the golden whistle before the start of the China-Scotland game.

Satinder Sharma has so far officiated in 117 international matches, including 13 games in two Junior World Cups. He is on the world panel of umpires of the FIH and is perhaps one of the most capped South Asian.

For him, the most interesting game of his career was when he was called to whistle in the Olympic games. The most exciting moment was the final of the Champions Trophy in Madrid that was between Germany and the Netherlands.

Normally, the final games of prestigious tournaments like Champions Trophy are given to European umpires. Intriguingly, Satinder Sharma has been going to international tournaments on nomination from the FIH. He says that Indian umpiring is coming up with some bright umpires in Raghu and Javed. Satinder Sharma has already been nominated on the umpiring panel for the 2010 World Cup in New Delhi. Now at 44, he can continue umpiring till he attains the age of 47 after which the FIH can take him on the Judges panel or Manager Umpire panel.